


The Fall

by fishfingersandjellybabies



Series: Talon!Damian AU [12]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-04-06 20:33:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4235664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishfingersandjellybabies/pseuds/fishfingersandjellybabies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They never knew what it was going to take to get Damian’s memories back. Turned out to be the smallest thing in the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fall

**Author's Note:**

> I always wanted something ridiculously minuscule to be the thing that triggered Damian’s memories, and I always wanted it to be something related to Dick. Just because his memories are back though, doesn’t mean his struggles are over. Now he has to deal with what happened to him, and the guilt of what he did as a Talon. But that’s a fic for another day. Based off the song ‘The Fall’ by Imagine Dragons, which always struck me as a perfect Dick and Damian song. So I’ll probably use it again one day, in a non-AU setting. But for now, use it as supplemental listening for this, because it’s wonderful.

~~

_You were the one, you were the one. You were the one who helped me see._

~~

It was funny, in a mind-numbingly painful way. Damian didn’t _remember_. They _knew_ that. Both by his sworn word and actions. His blank stares and curious touches.

Damian didn’t remember.

And yet.

He always stuck close. Always tried. Dick could see it. The way he furrowed his brow. Glared. As if he could just _will_ hard enough, and everything would be as it was. He wouldn’t have any more nightmares, and he’d remember the family he apparently always had.

Even now.

Dick was training in the cave. Swinging back and forth, working on his arm strength. And maybe showing off, just a little bit, as Damian curled up on the bench by the lockers, scribbling away in his sketchbook. It was the only perk of his youngest brother’s fractured mind; He got to be awed by a Flying Grayson for the first time all over again.

Dick’s smirk was rueful.

Wishful thinking, really.

He sighed as he slowed at the peak of his arc, rushing back forward. _Funny_. A real laugh, this whole thing was. Damian’s failed mental health was _hilarious_.

Dick shook his head. Better not to think about it. Damian always seemed to sense when you were, always seemed to fall headfirst into a deep anxiety over it.

He reached his jumping point and curved himself into a flip as he let go of the bar with a light grunt. “Alley… _oop!_ ”

There was a twang as he landed on the next bar. At first he thought it was just the tightening of the ropes under his weight, but when the twang quickly turned into a clatter, he realized the sound had come from below him.

He glanced down to see Damian on his feet, staring wide-eyed up at him, sketchbook and pencils sprawled across the floor.

“What…” Damian breathed, face scrunched in concentration. “What did you say?”

“What…alley-oop?” Dick questioned. Damian’s eyes widened further, if that was even possible. “It’s just a phrase, for…I don’t know, attention? Why?”

“You… _me_ , I…” Damian seemed to be thinking too fast for his mouth. “You used to…all the time, you used to say that to me.”

Dick near fell off the bar.

Outside of brief flashes – of feelings, mostly, or quick seconds, never full scenes – Damian couldn’t recall much from before his time with the Court. The ones with the most longevity were the dreams of Talia, that moment of poor choice when he left a crowbar in Jason’s bed. So this…if this meant what it _appeared_ to…

“It was our code. For a special move. Back when…” Damian’s tone was changing. Tears were welling up in his eyes as he looked down at his shaking hands. “Back when…when _you_ were Batman, and I was…I was your…”

Dick dropped thoughtlessly to the ground. He barely landed before sprinting over and falling to his knees in front of the child. Damian was breathing heavily, eyes jerking back and forth as he searched the empty space ahead of him. He looked like a scared cat, like everything was crashing down on him, all at once. And maybe it was. The tears spilled over as Dick took his face in his hands.

“Damian, buddy.” Dick cooed, wiping at the droplets with his thumbs. He grinned, trying not to let it get too big too fast. In case he was wrong, in case this joke decided to just get funnier. “Are you-”

The sentence wasn’t even out of his mouth before Damian began nodding his head vigorously. Childishly. Desperately. Forcing the tears to splash away from his skin, as he pursed his lips.

“Grayson.” Damian blubbered quietly, with a lilt similar to the good old days. When he was a brat whose only goal was to be Batman. Dick felt his own inhale hitch. He never thought he’d miss being called by his last name, never thought he’d be so overjoyed to not be called _Richard_ for once. “Grayson, what have I…”

“Dick?”

He didn’t let go of Damian’s face as he turned towards the new voice. Bruce was standing at the bottom of the cave stairs, eyes narrowing in on the mess on the floor, the still swinging trapeze bar, Damian’s blotchy red face, even Dick’s expression – which couldn’t have been better than an utterly hysterical mess.

“What’s going on?” Bruce demanded. “What happened? Another panic attack?”

“Bruce. _Bruce_.” And Dick didn’t know what to say, as he looked back into Damian’s eyes, as he saw recognition settle into those two oceans. “I think…I don’t know how, I…I don’t know what just _happened_ , but I think-”

“I remember.” Damian murmured with a sniff, turning out of Dick’s hold to face Bruce. Dick reluctantly let him go, reluctantly plopped his hands on his knees and watched as Damian moved towards their father. Bruce walked – practically ran – forward, too, meeting the child halfway. He mimicked Dick’s actions, diving to a crouch and raising a finger to push away the tears. “Oh, _Father_ …”

And his tone was so familiar. So known, Bruce almost collapsed into tears himself. It wasn’t polite like it had been for months. No longer intrigued or curious or empty. But warm, like Talia’s used to be, with a slight accent on his vowels, and a Gotham edge to his Ts and Rs.

“Father, I _remember_.” Damian repeated shakily. And Bruce believed him. Right now, he would do nothing but believe every word that came out of those pouting lips. He smiled, took hold of Damian’s shoulders and pulled him tightly to his chest. He glanced up at Dick, who was gleefully covering mouth, trying to stop himself from bursting with joy. Damian wrapped his arms around Bruce’s neck, hopelessly digging his nails into his shirt. “I remember _everything_.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Other Talon!Damian stories](http://fishfingersandjellybabies.tumblr.com/search/talon%21damian)   
> 


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